Even as this whole process got started, I decided in my head that I really liked my ENT surgeon, and so I would stick with him and whatever endocrinologist he recommended, and that would be that.
However, that didn't end up being the case entirely. The first item of business was my ENT surgeon. I knew Dr. Sigari was my guy, since it was because of him that my thyroid nodule had been followed so diligently in the first place. However, everyone I spoke to and all the literature that I read said that you should almost always get a second opinion, if anything just for peace of mind, and that at worst it would cost you time and a copay. So, even though I (for some reason) felt like I was turning my back on Dr. Sigari, I found another ENT online and made the appointment.
I was definitely glad that I did! While our meeting was brief, this ENT surgeon did many things for me:
1) Confirmed that she knew Dr. Sigari, and that he was a good surgeon,
2) Revealed that she herself had thyroid cancer 2 years ago! At that point, I saw the scar on her neck and ultimately realized she knew exactly how I felt!
3) Confirmed that Dr. Sigari's intention of not removing any lymph nodes unless they appear abnormal was a sound strategy, given the relatively low risk level that my case appeared to be at.
With a surgical second opinion out of the way, I turned my attention to the second, and perhaps more important doctor that I would need on my team: the endocrinologist.
Making calls to various endocrinologists around town recommended to me by various people including friends of friends who had thyroid cancer in the past, and my girlfriend's cousin who works as a pharmaceutical sales rep, I made a very shocking realization: Even though my surgery wasn't for about 3 and a half weeks, most endocrinologists don't tend to have openings until about 6 weeks out. And that was even after I told them I had thyroid cancer! I don't know how diabetics get treated, with endos being such a hot commodity.
In panic mode, I made appointments with any endocrinologist in the greater west Los Angeles area who had any kind of availability before June 18th. In all, after at least 10 phone calls, I had lined up "auditions" with three endocrinologists. As the endo would be the one monitoring my hormone/blood levels and arranging the radioactive iodine treatment, I knew this would be an important decision. Even though it felt like I had another full-time job, I proceeded with my auditions.
First up was a random endo that was pretty far south of me, in Redondo Beach. She was very sweet, and in our discussion she revealed that she was in the middle of breast cancer treatments, having already gone through chemo and waiting for her second surgery . Yikes! What was with all the cancer-surviving doctors these days? Not complaining though, it certainly promotes an aura of sympathy. In any case, I liked her a lot and she seemed knowledgeable, so at that point my nerves started to calm as I knew I wouldn't be left stranded without a thyroid or an endocrinologist. Solid backup plan, but perhaps I could find something closer to home.
The second endo was the train wreck...and to this day I haven't met (nor do I think I ever will meet) the actual doctor. This was the endo across the street from my ENT surgeon's office, so it is where he tended to send most of his patients. I called and told them I had thyroid cancer, but they said the endo didn't have availability until after the surgery. So, I asked if there were other doctors in the office, and they said there was one more. At this point, I was just in pure research mode, and I thought it was more important for me to just get my ass in front of an endo, and not necessarily find the right one. They said they coujld get me an appointment with him, but if I did see him, then I couldn't switch to the doctor that my ENT surgeon was referring to me. Something about two doctors and two separate businesses, so they couldn't allow patients to switch between the two. Seems like an arbitrary rule to be putting on a paying customer, but at that point I made the appointment with this secondary endo (who has some terrible reviews online, btw), just as a placeholder.
A couple of days later, the lady in the office called me and said they received my charts from Dr. Sigari, and so they wanted to get me in the office to see the endo's nurse practitioner, to get the process started. At this point, I'm confused, as telling them I had thyroid cancer didn't spark any sense of urgency on their part, but now that they had my paperwork, they were going to make accommodations? And even then, just to see the NP? Fine, whatever, so I made the appointment. Once I finally got in there, I see the office, which is definitely the darkest and dingiest office I've visited during this whole experience. After a very long wait, I finally met with the NP. She was perfectly nice, but was unable to answer my more detailed questions and said they were best asked of the doctor. And then she said she would walk me to the front desk to make sure I got an appointment with the endo before my surgery.
Wait...what? I suddenly got pissed. I had to deal with a run-around from the front desk and making an appointment with a sub-par doctor who shares the same office, but who this endo seemed to avoid like the plague. Then, when my surgeon's office "proved" I had cancer, I got the privilege to be "screened" by her NP, I guess to confirm again that I had cancer, so that I could get forced onto the endo's schedule? How did my first phone call not accomplish any of this?!? Needless to say, this endo dropped to the bottom of my short list.
My third and final meeting was with Dr. Janet Winikoff at UCLA, in Santa Monica. I got to my appointment early, took the elevator up, and went into the beautiful Endocrinology waiting area. The front desk staff was friendly, as was the nurse who took my blood pressure reading. So far, so good. As I waited in the exam room for Dr. Winikoff to come in, I looked to my left out of the floor-to-ceiling window and saw this:
Fun fact: Not the Santa Monica Church of Scientology.
My fate was staring at me through the window. It was St. John's Hospital, the site of my future thyroidectomy. Eerie.
Dr. Winikoff came in, an older lady who was nice and polite, but could be just a little blunt and prickly with her answers/demeanor. For some reason, I took a liking to her. She took her time answering all of my questions; our meeting must have taken about 30-40 minutes. She was very thorough, and by the end I was sold. When she asked where I was having my surgery, I pointed out the window at the hospital across the street. She then looked at her schedule and realized that it was possible she would come over to check on me after my surgery, but if not her, then another endocrinologist from the same office.
It all seemed to come together with that meeting. I was locked in with my surgeon, and I had found my endocrinologist.
Most of my anxiety went away at that point. There were no more appointments to have before the surgery. I just had to wind down at work, and then prepare myself for my date with the operating table. It was time to do this.
Arnold doesn't like thyroids either.
-W
P.S. When I tried to call that second endocrinologist to cancel my appointment, I remembered something else that ticked me off about calling them. Their system didn't have the ability to put people on hold, so after a few rings, if no one picked up, I got a message saying they were busy, so I had to leave a voicemail. I remember calling a few times within the same hour span the first time just to talk to a live person. So, I cancelled via voicemail, and never heard from their office again.
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